I was born August 12, 2006, about 12 weeks early, weighing 1 lb 8 oz. I was hospitalized for 514 days, 6 months in NICU and 11 months in PICU, and I finally got to go home for the first time on January 7th, 2008. I've been working really hard to grow my lungs bigger and stronger so I can eventually get off my ventilator and do all the things other kids do. I'm pretty tough but my smile will charm you.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Back in the P-I-C-U (a lesser known song of Billy Joel)

So, we admitted Kiera tonight. She had such a rough day all day, that it seemed the best choice. Of course, we will have to catch up on the Heroes premier later. Thank God for DVR. :) Once we got her on the hospital ventilator (the 840) she actually improved tremendously. Hopefully, this will just turn out to be a 72 hour tune up. It's actually been 3 whole months since her last pneumonia. Not a bad run. Her x-rays show an obliterated lower left lung (which has traditionally been her good lung) and what appears to be some viral activity in the right central as well. I asked them to hold off on the N-Balm (spelling?) lavage (a deep lung culture) and any I.V. attempts to see if this is just viral and passes with better ventilator support. I feel like the lavage last time contributed to escalating the pneumonia instead of helping. It will be nice to get a nutrition panel, blood gas, and other lab work that is tricky from home. Since she slept most of the day (as best as she could) she was wide awake when we left tonight. Luckily Elmo and The Little Mermaid have replaced us as parents, and we left her, unnoticed, while she watched her programs. :) She'll probably be up a while. She even got her old corner room. Yippee! I really hated to take her in, but she was limp and pale, and we had pretty much maxed out our bag of tricks here at home. I guess this is the beginning of us becoming even more reclusive for the remainder of the winter. It makes me nervous about her eye surgery scheduled for October. Eek.

Kiera's peek-a-boo game

Kiera's First Love, July 2007

About Me

I was born on August 12, 2006, after an emergency C-Section. I was about 12 weeks premature. 1 lb. 8 oz., a little underweight for a 28-weeker. Mostly, aside from my Chronic Lung disease from the early delivery, and having to live with a trachiostomy and a respirator, and beating my Pulminary Hypertension and thickening of my heart walls, all-in-all I am doing fine.

bornalivetruth.org

Kiera's NICU Days

I didn't start the blog till Kiera was 6 months old and in danger of dying; so here are some early days pics for those who didn't know her when she was so small.

Mommy's first chance to hold Kiera on day 2, just over the heated bed.

First Kangaroo Cuddle at 5 days old, 1 lb 6oz, she lost a little weight like all babies after birth.

2 lb princess

Take Daddy's hand

Mommy gives Kiera a sponge bath, weight about 3 lbs

In the 3 lb range, the blanket is a security blanket or burp cloth size, folded in half. When I got it as a gift before she was born, I thought, "What a ridiculously small blanket!" It ended up being just perfect for her.